So, it's that time of year again - an arbitrary change of date, the train station flicker board clicks over in the same way as it does all the time, the clock carries on its circle from 23:59:59 on 31/12/2016 to 00:00:00 on 01/01/2017.
It's just another new day really - for most it isn't even that, for most we don't even sleep through the transition to wake anew. We cheer, down a drink and then, much later, wake bleary-eyed on a day which is - thankfully - a bank holiday. A day when otherwise - because of winter conditions and lack of daylight - we would not be desperately wanting a day off.
I don't do resolutions. I know I've covered this previously. And whilst I had some success, I attribute very little to a new day, a new year.
But years are the closest way that we really have of 'chunking' life experiences. Remembering them to certain periods of our lives. I'm lucky (not really) in that I have a December birthday, so anything I could ascribe to an age, also aligns wih a calendar year. (honestly, nearly-Christmas birthdays are horrible.)
So, 2015 was my annus horribilis. Truly it was awful. Within days of completing the heavy renovation of my house, I was given notice of my redundancy at work. There is nothing more terrifying than being told that you will not be employed after 10th December - just a week before your birthday and a few more days before the Christmas shut down.
Whilst I was working out my redundancy notice period I then found out that my friend had taken himself. At this stage, actually nothing more could have gone wrong in my mind - I was losing my job, my income, my friends. Just before my birthday and Christmas.
OH YES - I nearly forgot - surgery. I injured my shoulder a year before in a football clash. I ran into someone called 'fatlad'. Normally, when I tackle people, I come off the better. This time I hadn't. After a year of (very attractive) physio with the lovely Dan, he identified that there was something more substantial wrong. So, I was scheduled in for an operation on 20th November 2015. Brill.
Anyway, what with one thing and another, this leant itself to me achieving my long-held ambition to move to London. I'd just completed my house renovation, so it was now (finally) set to sell, I had no job keeping me in the midlands - it was [the] PERFECT [storm].
But I've told you this already.
Everyone has bemoaned how 2016 has been a terrible year. Celebrity deaths, Brexit, Trump and the rest.
Anyway, 2016 was the year when I did London. I settled, explored, sorted. You may recall I went with #DoOneThing? This was where I was determined not to fall into "the London trap" of living in London and yet not doing anything. The number of times that I speak to my friends and they haven't done things because they haven't made time. So I made time.
So, I did #DoOneThing. The rules about #DoOneThing were not great - I had to Do One Thing a week that got me out of the house. Just one thing a week. Something a bit different. It wasn't just meeting mates, it wasn't a night down the pub or in a club. It was doing something different - a bit cultural or something else. So, for example, my Sunday wanders around Cockfosters, Greenwich, Hampstead, Peckham etc. didn't count.
I have counted up. I did 182 things.
182.
110 of these were theatre, 15 comedy, 23 music, 4 art related and 30 in the 'other' category (which included festivals, certain installations that didn't classify as art, cinema and tv/radio show recordings).
To be clear, this is almost one every other day (2016 was a leap year so technically half is 183).
I did do two things on some days - often the comedy gigs involved two (or on occasions three) in an evening. That said, I do notice from my calendar some omissions - certain gigs or events which, perhaps because I booked them on the same day as I attended - haven't been registered on my calendar. So it is probably more than 182, but I am happy with that number.
So, for me 2016 was the new start. It was a good year. It was the year I made the most of London. It was the turnaround. New job, new flat, new start.
A good year.
And 2017?
Well, I don't make resolutions. I have a few aims, but nothing set in stone. I'd like to get a better job (mine is currently a bit more temporary); ideally I would like to get a flat that I own; I'd like to aim to get a bit healthier - I haven't done much exercise or really concentrated on my diet over the last year whilst I've been doing #DoOneThing. But I'm not busting myself on any of these - if I don't achieve them I won't be disappointed. I just need to stablise a little.
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